Chapter 219: Small Test of Abilities
Two days later.
The morning sun was rising up from the surface of the sea, basking the cold Cloud Lake Island in a warm glow.
There was a murky layer of mist above the surface of the Cloud Cover Lake at the center of the island, and the mist showed no signs of dissipating even under the light of the rising sun.
At this moment, Han Li was hovering high up in the sky, surveying the lake down below.
Blue light flashing within his eyes, while his spiritual sense was scouring over the lake, but he discovered that he was unable to see or detect anything through the mist.
With a flick of his wrist, the long black saber that he had obtained from Fang Pan appeared in his grasp.
Layers of golden scales that emerged over his body, and his arm instantly thickened significantly while a layer of piercing black light appeared over the surface of the black saber, drawing in the world's origin qi in the surrounding area.
Countless inky-black runes appeared on the blade of the saber, releasing waves of black light that were imbued with potent law power fluctuations, causing the surrounding space to tremble and ripple.
He raised the saber high above his head, then brought it down in a forceful slashing motion toward the surface of the lake down below.
The sound of howling wind rang out as the entire saber glowed with radiant black light, and a massive saber projection that was over 1,000 feet in length was unleashed before crashing down upon the lake with devastating force.
Even before the saber projection arrived, the sheer force and pressure that it released caused the surface of the lake to part down the center.
A burst of thunderous rumbling rang out as massive waves swept over the surface of the Cloud Cover Lake, and two enormous walls of water erupted in opposite directions before sweeping toward the shore with tremendous force.
The waves were so powerful that they swept all the way beyond the shore of the lake before crashing into the nearby forest.
"Who's there?!"
A thunderous roar of fury rang out from the bottom of the lake, immediately following which a streak of golden light erupted forth from beneath the waves, hurtling directly toward Han Li.
Han Li focused his gaze on the streak of golden light to find that it contained a square-faced middle-aged man in a golden robe with a pair of dark purple eyes. The man was holding a golden longsword that it was piercing directly at Han Li.
The man wasn't giving off any demon beast aura, but Han Li's intuition told him that this was the Origin Mirage Beast that he was searching for.
The golden longsword had radiant runes shimmering on its surface, and it was giving off a peerlessly sharp aura.
A loud clang rang out as Han Li parried the sword with his black blade, and the tremendous impact of the clash sent the golden-robed man flying back, while Han Li only wobbled slightly before immediately steadying himself.
"To think that a pitiful little itinerant immortal like yourself would dare to challenge me! You must truly have a death wish! I just so happen to require the blood essence of a human True Immortal to help me break through my bottleneck, so you've come at just the right time!" the golden-robed man chuckled coldly as he steadied himself several thousand feet away.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he suddenly hurled his golden longsword forward, and it split up into thousands of golden longswords amid a flash of light, arranging themselves into layers to resemble an enormous golden lotus flower blooming in the sky.
In the next instant, a string of loud clangs rang out as the golden longswords flew through the air one after another, hurtling directly toward Han Li like a flight golden sword dragon.
Initially, Han Li was of the opinion that these golden longswords were nothing more than sword projections, but only as the golden sword dragon flew toward him and attempted to sink its fangs into his body did he discover that it possessed a substantial form.
He immediately raised his saber to ward off the sword dragon, jamming it into the sword dragon's mouth to prevent it from being able to bite down onto him.
At the same time, the golden sword dragon lashed out with its claws from down below, striking him on the chest to tear his robes apart, leaving several alarming white marks on his golden scales.
Han Li immediately retaliated with a slash of his saber, which raised a huge flurry of sparks as he pulled it out of the sword dragon's mouth, then stomped both feet heavily down onto the dragon's head to send it flying back through the air.
However, before he had a chance to steady himself, the sound of howling wind rang out from behind him, and a strange beast that resembled a True Dragon suddenly appeared behind him before biting down toward his head.
The beast had the head of a dragon, but no dragon horn, and it also had the body of a dragon, but no dragon claws.
Han Li's pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and azure light flashed over his entire body as he ducked to the side, allowing him to just barely evade the beast's attack.
However, in the next instant, he felt a burst of excruciating pain spear through his shoulder.
As it turned out, the dragon-like beast had sunk its fangs into his shoulder, and even with his astonishingly powerful physical constitution, the creature was able to bite straight through his shoulder, causing him to bleed profusely.
Han Li was very much alarmed by this. He had clearly evaded that attack, yet somehow, the creature had still managed to sink its fangs into him.
He raised his saber-wielding hand up high, and right as he was about to bring the saber down upon the head of the dragon that was biting into his shoulder, a strong sense of peril immediately welled up in his heart, causing him to stop cold in his tracks.
In the next instant, Han Li felt a sharp pain in his mind, not because he had been struck by some other attack. Instead, he had unleashed a spiritual attack upon himself in order to snap himself back to his senses.
Sure enough, following that burst of sharp pain in his mind, he turned to his shoulder to find that it was completely fine, with no dragon's head attached to it.
If he had brought his saber down just now, he would've unwittingly chopped off his own arm.
"What?! There's no way a mid-True Immortal cultivator could've seen through my illusions!" the golden robed man exclaimed in disbelief as he hovered in the air several thousand feet away.
Even though Han Li had broken himself out of his opponent's illusion, he was still feeling extremely apprehensive.
He abruptly shot forward as he slashed his black saber through the air in an arc, lashing out at his opponent with tremendous force.
"Insolence!"
A furious look appeared in the golden-robed man's eyes upon seeing this, and he made a rapid series of hand seals, following which a ball of five-colored light instantly erupted out from between his fingers.
The five-colored light had a dreamy quality to it, and Han Li was struck by a rush of dizziness at the mere sight of it.
At the same time, a metallic grating sound rang out, and the golden sword dragon pounced at him from behind before attempting to sink its fangs into his back.
Han Li reflexively raised a hand to shield his eyes while slashing his saber through the air behind him.
A crescent-shaped saber projection was sent sweeping through the air before crashing heavily into the sword dragon, causing the latter to rock back amid a resounding clang.
Right at this moment, a giant translucent five-colored hand suddenly reached out from the illusory five-colored light ahead of Han Li before closing itself around his entire body.
Han Li instantly felt a burst of tremendous force compressing around his chest, striking him with a sense of asphyxiation.
In addition to that, the five-colored illusory light was still flashing incessantly, and its dizzying effect was slowing down his reactions ever so slightly.
"Die!"
An explosive roar rang out from behind the five-colored light, while the sword dragon that had just been repelled by Han Li pounced at him once again.
Two of the golden swords on its head abruptly elongated to resemble a pair of horns, which were aimed directly at the back of Han Li's chest.
Blue light was flashing urgently in Han Li's eyes, yet he was still unable to see through the illusory light up ahead, and his consciousness was beginning to become rather murky.
In this dire situation, he let loose a thunderous roar, and golden light flashed over his body as all of his muscles rapidly bulged, transforming him into a giant golden ape that was over 1,000 feet tall in the blink of an eye.
The giant hand around him was unable to contain him any longer and exploded violently.
As soon as he was freed from the giant hand, Han Li grabbed onto his black saber with both hands. The black saber had also extended to several hundred feet in length to match his new stature, and he slashed it viciously toward the illusory five-colored light and the golden-robed man behind it.
The sound of howling wind rang out as the five-colored illusory light was instantly scattered by the astral winds unleashed by the almighty slash, while the golden-robed man hurriedly flew in retreat with an alarmed and fearful look on his face.
However, the attack encompassed an enormous area, and he was unable to evade it in a short time.
Right as the blade was about to reach him, a peculiar grin suddenly appeared on the golden-robed man's face, and he didn't retreat any further as he merely allowed the blade to slice him into two.
The two halves of the golden-robed man's body warped momentarily before abruptly vanishing into thin air.
At the same time, the giant sword dragon that was pouncing at Han Li from behind suddenly began to speak. "Let's see how you dodge this attack!"
Its speed abruptly doubled as it spoke, and it was piercing directly toward the back of Han Li's chest.
With his back facing the sword dragon, Han Li was only able to take a step forward, and he didn't have enough time to dodge the attack or turn around.
Right as the sword dragon was about to plunge into his back, a burst of azure light suddenly appeared in the air between him and the sword dragon before abruptly vanishing from the spot.
In the next instant, the oncoming golden sword dragon suddenly lost all momentum, and it plunged straight down toward the lake below in a limp and lifeless fashion.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face as he reverted back to his human form, then descended in pursuit of the golden sword dragon.
A string of clangs rang out in succession as the golden swords around the sword dragon's body fell away one after another, revealing the body of the golden-robed man within.
However, a gruesome hole had been punched through his glabella, and his strange purple eyes had also lost all of its luster and vibrance, having turned a lifeless gray color.
The nascent soul that was residing in its head had also already been destroyed.
Han Li extended a hand before making a grabbing motion, and all of the golden longswords that had split off from the sword dragon's body vanished amid a flash of golden light, leaving behind only a single sword that fell into his grasp.
He inspected the golden longsword briefly before stowing it away into his storage bracelet.
Meanwhile, a burst of azure light suddenly flashed within the bloody hole in the golden-robed man's glabella, and a tiny azure sword that was only around an inch in length flew out from within before quickly expanding and reverting back to its original form.
This was none other than Han Li's Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and all 72 of them had been combined into one on this occasion.
After nurturing the flying swords in his body for the past few decades, they had already completely absorbed the immense amount of sword essence that they had devoured all those years ago. At the moment, each sword had just about reached the level of an Acquired Immortal Treasure, and when combined into a single sword, they were well and truly comparable to a true Acquired Immortal Treasure.
Back in the Blaze Dragon Dao, he had never used the swords as he was concerned that Xiong Shan would notice, so this was the first opportunity that he had had to test out the swords, and they had given him a massively pleasant surprise.
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